


A podfic reccing guide

by yue_ix



Category: Fandom - Fandom
Genre: Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Gen, Metafiction, Podfic, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic Meta, Recommendations, commenting meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 02:58:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18217274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yue_ix/pseuds/yue_ix
Summary: Recommending (reccing) a podfic is a sure way to bring positive attention to it and its creator, and help your fannish circles discover beautiful voices. This guide aims to boost inspiration and facilitate the making of a podfic rec. It is based on my own experience and practices, so our miles will vary. Please share your own ways in the comments!





	1. Audio version

**Author's Note:**

> Text version can be found as Chapter 2; Vocabulary annex is Chapter 3.

### Details

  * **Length:** 00:13:53 
  * **File type:** MP3 (8.0 MB)
  * **Cover image description:** Cutesy stars around a pair of headphones on a microphone.



### Hosting

  * Direct download OR streaming [here](http://yue-ix.parakaproductions.com/podcast/How-To-Rec-Podfics.mp3)



### Credits

  * **Text:** [Canva](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18217274/chapters/43098341#workskin><i>See%20chapter%202</i></a>%20</li>%0A<li>%20<b>Author%20&%20reader:</b>%20Yue_IX%20</li>%0A<li>%20<b>Cover%20artist:</b>%20Yue_IX,%20using%20<a%20href=)
  * **Hosting:** Paraka 
  * **Sound effects:** [Freesound](https://freesound.org) and [SoundBible](http://soundbible.com)



 

 

 


	2. Text version

Podfic is becoming increasingly popular and widespread in the fandomsphere, yet can still be hard to find. Many amazing works slip through the cracks. We can change that! 

Recommending (reccing) a podfic is a sure way to bring positive attention to it and its creator, and help your fannish circles discover beautiful voices. This guide aims to boost inspiration and facilitate the making of a podfic rec. It is based on my own experience and practices, so our miles will vary. Please share your own ways in the comments! 

Thank you dvildg and cantarina for betaing this.

## How to make podfic recs

### Goal of your podfic rec

My first step is always to figure out my target audience, as it'll influence everything else about the rec. 

The who: when reccing things to my best friend, keysmashing as the sole descriptor is acceptable. If I'm making fandom-wide recs for a stranger as part of a fanwork exchange, I could omit listing the fandom but will probably want to sort my list (often by length or trope). If my goal is to lure people into my tiny fandom, or make them discover a new voice, I'll provide extra context about this fandom or include other notable works by the same podficcer. 

The where: In the same way, when my rec goes on Twitter, I distill it to short and sweet. When it goes on [podfic-love](https://podfic-love.dreamwidth.org/), a podfic recommendation community, I'll follow their given formatting and provide fandom, content notes, length, summary and notes. If it's part of a themed community list, I can focus my enthusiasm on how each podfic made this theme shine.

### Structure of a podfic rec

Like with any rec, people usually include basic context information (title, fandom, creator(s) involved) and a personal touch. 

If you are posting in a particular rec place, check out their posting format or create one for yourself! It will often provide a great template to get you started. 

On Twitter, I like to vaguely do:

Theme (if there's one): [Title], by [@podficcer name] (Fandom, Ship, rating, length, trope) LINK [squeeeee]. 

Exemple:  


[Screencap from Twitter account @Loonhowl."Night rec: Our Hearts, Like Doors (hockey RPF, Julie Chu/Caroline Ouellette, baby's first skate, 12min) by @iamapodperson is read soft and domestic, a fuzzy blanket, both just long and short enough to talk me through my evening chores in a freezing house. <https://archiveofourown.org/works/17683331>] 

 

In places with less limited space, I'll often include fic creator, fic summary and notable tags. 

Some people like to include the cover art or audio snippets into their rec post. Please first check with the creator(s) of this audio or cover art to see if they allow clipping and reposts of their works.

### From SQUEE to words

I like to compartmentalise my "YAY" into more manageable packets from two big categories: fanwork setting, my reactions or my overall impression. All those maker choices create an unique experience we can isolate and squee about.

This is an exhaustive list because I use these tools to write long podfic comments. For recs, only a couple of these items is plenty! Less is more. For comments, I let myself go loose. ;)

Work's settings includes describing the choice of source story, pitch, rhythm, character voices, number of readers, music, sounds, editing, cover art, file type and body language.  
Characterisation, genre, mood, length are other good choices, especially if the reader is also the writer or if this is part of a collaborative effort such as a pod-together. For me this is the easiest packet because it’s all statements of facts. 

Ex: “This is a long (8 hours!) podfic with 2 collaborators trading fast-paced banter.”

My actions are what I was doing or wanted to do within the context of listening to this work. Podfic as a fanwork allows us to multitask and we often do. So what did I do (or NOT do) can be very telling. 

Would I run or sleep to this podfic? How long did it take me to go through it and why? For instance, did I have to pause because I kept laughing at work? Wanted to cry? Fell asleep? Paused it while in the subway because I didn't want to miss a thing? Did I text a friend about this podfic? On the contrary, was it the perfect background noise to my knitting, painting, shovelling snow, driving?

 

Overall impressions are about how general things impacted the performance for me. For example this is where I'll point out if it was a fast or slow reading and if that affected the humour or gravitas of the piece, usage of low or high register of the podficcer's voice to compound characterisation, choice and inclusion of music as a tool to bring forth a mood. In general terms, this can be as simple as saying whether it was a steady slow or a roller-coaster of a fanwork.

### Vocabulary

If you too need help sometimes with vocabulary, I previously made a post about podfic vocabulary on podfic-tips, which you can find in Annex A. 

When I need emotion-related vocabulary, I look at emotion charts 

[](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EmotionCartoon.svg)   
[Wheel with six main emotions: Happy, exited, tender, scared, angry, sad, and list of emotions for each.] 

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EmotionCartoon.svg 

The thing is, recs do not have to be advanced vocabulary essays. 

"OMG my fav podficcer posted again!" or "ASFGSDGF guuys check this out" are excellent recs. Match your audience.

### Making rec lists

Single recs are awesome, and sometimes we also want to package them. If you have a backlog of recs, it's an efficient way to get a good chunk of it done.

What other podfics would you associate with this one? If you are posting on a community you might already have your common denominator picked out, for instance ships or trope (wings, hurt/comfort, modern AU, femslash, etc.). 

As a challenge, I try to choose outside of same fandom, author and trope. It forces me to think about the podfic differently. For instance, on Twitter I like to do a nighttime rec versus a daytime rec. On podfic-love, I liked to pick different types of audio fanworks every rec lists. 

How do you categorise your podfics, mentally? This can be your actual podfic playlists titles or get whimsical. For instance, which would make a great road trip or flight companion, or 5-min-and-less in new fandoms? Is there a list of podfics you listen to when sad or trying to sleep? 

Ex of podfic rec lists:

  * [Road Trip Sterek podfic recs, T-rated and less.](http://bleep0bleep.tumblr.com/post/115909919990/hi-im-going-on-a-road-trip-and-was-wondering-if) by bleep0bleep (Teen Wolf) 
  * [Long Podfic recs for a friend staring down a 12hr plane ride](https://podfictalk.tumblr.com/post/105449155741/long-podfic-recs-for-a-friend-staring-down-a-12hr) by necessarytango (multiple fandoms)
  * [Kylo/Hux podfic recs](http://kyluxficrecs.tumblr.com/post/157426466823/do-you-have-any-recs-for-podfics) by Kylux fic recommendations (Star Wars, newest trilogy)
  * [Steve/Tony podfic recs for bus rides, fluff or humour](https://sabrecmcstonyficrecs.tumblr.com/post/169822513578/hey-any-good-podfics-you-could-recommend-to) by sabrecmc (MCU movies and comics)
  * [John/Sherlock podfic recs for 4hours and 8 hours long car rides](http://johnlockfanficrec.tumblr.com/post/162648348623/hey-i-was-wondering-do-you-know-any-good-podfics) by johnlockfanficrec (Sherlock BBC)
  * [Miscalleneous Teen Wolf recs part 1](http://wheredidhiseyebrowsgo.tumblr.com/post/151693418705/do-you-have-a-podfic-tag-if-so-can-you-link) [part 2](http://wheredidhiseyebrowsgo.tumblr.com/post/156873335590/hi-so-i-know-you-dont-have-a-tag-for-it-but-ive) by wheredidhiseyebrowsgo (Teen Wolf)



### Where to share recs

Short answer: anywhere and everywhere! Tagging your post with "podfic", "podfic rec", or such whenever applicable will boost the reach of your recs dramatically, but everywhere is great. 

Longer answer includes of course your own plateforms: Twitter, tumblr, dreamwidth, reddit, youtube, pillowfort, shared documents, pinboard, Discord, texts… anything you use to interact with others is a good place. Spread the love.

Note: On Twitter I tag the podficcer because I have limited internet access and often have to choose between taking the time to leave a comment and taking the time to make a rec. Reccing + tagging allows the creator to receive their enthusiastic feedback and gives the podfic broader visibility. 

Podfic-specific communities often accept recs, and there's the following communities that will always love to host your recs:

  * [Podfic_love](https://podfic-love.dreamwidth.org/) " a community for recommendations for fannish vocal performances. We welcome recs and reccers from all fandoms, genres, styles, and ratings. Anyone can rec at any time, but we also encourage members to also sign-up as a monthly reccer." Available on [Dreamwidth](podfic-love.dreamwidth.org) / [Twitter](http://twitter.com/podfic_love) / [Tumblr](http://podfic-love.tumblr.com/)
  * [Multifandom Podfic Recs tumblr community](http://multifandompodficrecs.tumblr.com/) "Podfic recs for all fandoms, user-submitted. "
  * Amplirecathon was an annual two-week fest for recommending podfic, hosted on the Amplificathon LiveJournal and Dreamwidth communities. The challenge itself is technically defunct but the community is still posting. 
  * [WeLovePodfic](https://welovepodfic.dreamwidth.org/profile) is also a "A (hopefully) annual feedback challenge for lovers of podfic." One of the reccuring challenges was to post podfic recs in various ways.
  * [Podfichat](https://t.co/AvmUPfxaqM) a public Discord server to discuss podfic. Has a specific podfic-recs channel. 



  
You are also welcome to try these: 

  * [fandom]finders communities: most -finders communities will have the occasional person asking for podfic recs. These people are often new to podfics and will adore any recs you can give them. 
  * The tumblr [Podfic rec tag](https://www.tumblr.com/search/podfic+rec) has loads and requests for even more. 
  * Same goes with fandom or ship specific communities, festivities, themed weeks, and exchanges. Even if they are named "-Fic-recs"! Ask if you can post podfic-recs; the answer will often be yes. Adding podfic to your own spaces is a great way to convert your friends and encourage more podfics in your own interests. 



  


If you know of other places where podfic recs are welcome, please let me know in the comments! Don't hesitate to share further tips and tricks or ask each other questions, too. 

I hope this was in any way useful. Happy reccing!

And by the way: you are awesome.


	3. Annex A : Vocabulary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally posted on podfic_tips on 30th NOVEMBER, 2014 and titled [COMMENTING ON PODFIC: VOCABULARY](https://podfic-tips.livejournal.com/95933.html).

One of the topics that caught my attention through this year's pod-aware was feedback, and having tools to leave feedback.

Sometimes, especially if we're more used to leaving comments on other types of fanworks or if like me the Fandom Language (often: English) isn't the language we're most comfortable with, we're at a loss for words. As such, when leaving comments on podfics, or when reccing podfics, I like to build myself a little vocabulary list. Here's my lists of what I often comment on and what words I choose from, in case it might help others.

### Overall fluidity of listening experience/reading voice

Fluid, smooth, easy to get into, effortless, gentle, polished, quiet, sleek, soft, steady, tranquil, even, flat, soothing, uniform, fluent, monotonous, rhythmic, varying, changing, interrupted/uninterrupted, disturbed/undisturbed, broken/unbroken, consistent/inconsistent, rough, demanding, challenging, coarse, complex, perfect, clean, slick, clever, graceful, comprehensive, fun.

### Dialogues and favourite lines

Smooth, sharp, quick, dry, funny, emotional, snappy, snarky, tearful, loving, tender, hateful, angry, laughing, smug, sexy, suave, cocky, raspy, loud, quiet, laugh/smile-in-voice, soothing, gentle, challenging, hoarse, screamed, whispered, dead panned, etc.

### Sound effects

For:

  * singing;
  * non-verbal vocalisation ([What's that? It includes sighs, hmms, gasps, chewing, laughs, curses, huh-huhs, whistling](http://fffinnagain.tumblr.com/post/102098275808/fffinnagain-lunchee-pods-kalakirya-asked)); 
  * ambient or actor-created noise (door closing, hand clapping, phone ringing, cat mewling, rain, bird songs);
  * and edited-in noise (texts, keyboard, chats, bleeps, music).



Melodious, loud/quiet, surprising, unexpected, befitting, compatible, startling, perfect, representative, works well with, matching, clever, crafty, tricky, resourceful, imaginative, original, neat, graceful, conveys X emotion, perfect moment, awesome.

### Accent and embodiment

Fun, new, familiar, homey, comforting, intimate, friendly, warm, hot, sexy, layered, rhythmic, varying, pulling me in, well rendered, visual, physical, visceral, neat, deep, present/presence, clever, awesome, pretty, beautiful, gorgeous.

### Editing

Polished, smooth, seamless, invisible, inaudible, flawless, clean, seemingly effortless, accomplished, deft, perfected, masterful, crafty, tricky, coherent, ideal, even, steady, homogeneous, unfailing, uniform, noisy/unnoisy, distracting, clever, neat.

### Cover art

For

  * visual art graphic (colours, lines, shapes, colour scheme, place of components (layout), emphasis, texture, crop);
  * typography (choice of font, size, colour, effect, words chosen)



Beautiful, well put together, harmonious, thematic, X pops out, focused, polished, big, small, thin, thick, bold, emphasised, coloured, recognisable when seen in smaller form on my iPod, iconic to X's work, representative, matching, excellent use of this picture/art/font, grainy/grunge/rough look, smooth/blurry/slick, symmetrical, whimsical.

### My context

  * The physical place I was in - inside/outside, room, public transport, work, school, visiting family, …
  * The physical state I was in: walking, eating, falling asleep, drawing, exercising, …
  * The mental state I was in before, during, and after the listening experience



Happy, fulfilled, content, glad, pleased; excited, energetic, aroused, bouncy, nervous, perky, antsy; tender, loving, warm, touched, kind, sympathetic; sad, down, mopey, grieving, dejected, depressed, heartbroken; angry, irritated, upset, mad, raging, resentful; scared, worried, anxious, panicked, tense, etc.

### Context of the podfic

 **reader** : favourite, beloved, familiar, excellent, wonderful, new to us, new to podficcing, new to fandom, back from a leave of fanworks, prolific, shy, funny, multi-talented, first time trying out X, I love it everytime you do X, inspiring;

 **source material** : characters, ship, tropes, etc – excellent choice, inspired, fitting, unknown before this piece, found a new favourite trope, hit my kink, can't get enough, so glad you did this.

### Other useful resources

[thesaurus for synonyms lists](http://www.thesaurus.com/)

[emotion wheels, ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrasting_and_categorization_of_emotions)for pinning a name on your Feels

[google translate, ](https://translate.google.ca/)if you have the right word but in the wrong language

 

I hope this helps! Please comment with your own and I'll add them in. :D

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone has a different way of reccing. Please feel free to share yours and interact in the comments.


End file.
